BOZEMAN — We’ve done a couple of stories about how this pandemic is forcing different businesses and restaurants to adapt. Well one thing that’s making it easier to adapt is technology.
“It’s really simple. Just put your camera over here and it scans it, you hit the website and it brings it right up to our menus,” Sean Faris with Montana Ale Works explained.
Montana Ale Works is one of several Bozeman restaurants utilizing technology to adapt during a pandemic.
“We also made the decision to kind of use an older technology of QR codes, so that guest coming into our building that still might not feel comfortable touching paper or any of that stuff, they could take their phone and scan the QR code,” Faris said.
Which pulls up the restaurant’s entire menu.
Even local churches are utilizing technology more due to COVID-19 concerns.
“As a church, the word is, we’ve pivoted like lots of organizations, and we’ve tried to figure out how to bring the church to people,” explained Pastor Brian Van Eps with Journey Church.
Which is where technology comes in.
“We did amp it up a bit to make it really dynamic and interesting on the technology side from focusing on providing an experience to people in the room to how do we translate that to people who are watching online,” said Sam Bennett, the pastor of technology with Journey.
And for these two organizations, this small use of technology has created a big difference.
“These small steps mean a lot to not only our staff but to our guests, so whatever we can do and continue to adapt is the direction we’re going to continue to head,” Faris said.
“Technology allows us to leverage the good news of Jesus,” Van Eps said.
The online church services and QR codes are only a few ways we’ve seen how places are utilizing technology to adapt. But it’s more likely we’ll see more as the pandemic progresses.